Besides the beautiful grounds and artwork, the memory that sticks with me the most was actually from the security line to get in. Not six days earlier, in Versailles, I had bought myself a little pocket watch. I loved it. I was a pocket watch person now. But I needed to put it on a conveyor belt to go through the metal detector. It got crushed at the end of the belt and never worked again. I still have it, though. It's currently being held by a ceramic rubber glove mold in my office.
